All posts by Darth Sarah

Sarah is a journalist and an artist who lives in the city. She loves movies and television. She reads early and often. She also secretly hopes the Doctor will come and take her away, though she realizes he probably already has a dedicated companion at the moment.
Sarah also helps out over at BSCkids.com, Optionated.com and our other sites!

Hayao Miyazaki is coming back! The critically acclaimed director responsibility for some of the world’s best animated film’s including My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Princess Mononoke has announced he is coming out of retirement for one more movie (again.)

Both Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away were reported as his “final movie” but each time came back with something great once more. Most recently, he announced his retirement in 2013 following the release of his film, The Wind Rises. But three years later, he still has more stories to tell.

Reportedly, Miyazaki had been working on a CG short film called Boro the Caterpillar. It was based on a story idea he’s had for 20 years, but, according to io9, it was announced in an NHK television special called The Man Who Is Not Done that Miyazaki was now wants to expand it into a feature film.

There is one caveat though. The new feature-length movie isn’t even technically greenlit yet, but it is very doubtful that Studio Ghibli would turn down Miyazaki asking to make another movie. He has only made them a ton of freaking money. Despite it not being greenlit at the moment. Miyazaki has already been making storyboards for the movie, which is projected to be completed before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Despite the fact that everyone is still pretty peeved about the casting of Scarlett Johansson in the lead role of a movie adapted from a popular anime, the project has continued onward. Last week, the studio released the very first trailer for Ghost in the Shell and admittedly it looks pretty cool. You can watch the trailer above!

In Ghost in the Shell, Johansson stars as The Major, a cyber policewoman tasked with taking down cyber criminals who are attempting to bring down the Hanka Robotics corporation. The Major eventually begins to question her reality and uncover the mysteries surrounding her identity.

Most of the casting upset surrounding this film comes from the fact that The Major was originally a Japanese character and casting Johansson is viewed as whitewashing. Many felt and still do (and I agree) that the studio could have hired any number of Asian actresses to fill the coveted role. I mean honestly how hard could that have been? The film’s producers have defended the choice, saying that Johansson was simply the right actress for the part. But in reality they likely wanted the A-lister in order to bring in the audiences and the money.

The adaptation was directed by Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) and also stars Juliette Binoche, Pilou Asbæk and Japanese star Takeshi Kitano.

Good news everyone (and news that everyone isn’t super surprised about)! “Westworld” has officially been renewed alongside other new shows “Insecure” and “Divorce.”

“Westworld” has been a pantheon show since premiering. The internet is already overflowing with theories and fans falling in love with Dolores and terrified of Ford. In fact, the series is doing better in the ratings than the first season of HBO’s most popular show, “Game of Thrones.” It’s averaging 11.7 million viewers.

Rumor is that the creators of the series have a five year plan for “Westworld” so we won’t have another “Lost” situation on our hands. So the renewal wasn’t so much a surprise as it was an eventuality.

Entertainment Weekly also reported that HBO renewed “Insecure,” the new series from Issa Rae that has absolutely captured my heart and many others this season. Additionally, the Sarah Jessica Parker show, “Divorce” was also picked up for a second season. Both new second seasons will consist of 10 episodes.

In an interesting turn of events, the film that was initially supposed to premiere as part of Phase 4 in the MCU, will now be a new series! Marvel has announced the television series “Marvel’s Inhumans” will premiere on IMAX screens in Sept. 2017 before moving to ABC.

According to the announcement from Marvel, the first two episodes of the series will be shown on IMAX screens for two weeks before moving to ABC. This is an interesting decision because this will be the first time a live-action series debuts this way.

“Inhumans” was originally created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1965. The series will follow the group of Inhumans, or super-humans with distinct and abnormal powers. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has already introduced the idea of Inhumans beginning in season 2. Whether the two shows overlap haven’t been revealed but it seems extremely likely. ABC currently airs the other popular MCU series, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..”

“This unprecedented alliance represents a bold, innovative approach to launching great TV content for a worldwide audience,” said co-chairman of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney/ABC Television Group Ben Sherwood in a statement. “It highlights Disney|ABC’s unrelenting commitment to finding new and creative ways to showcasing our very best programming and increasing global engagement and reach.”

IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond also added,

“This first-of-its-kind multi-platform production, distribution and marketing agreement brings together Marvel Television’s unique brand of entertainment, ABC’s unparalleled audience and IMAX’s brand and global fanboy demographic. It also takes our decades-long relationship with The Walt Disney Company to a whole new level, jointly breaking new ground in the industry. We are confident our exhibition partners will be excited to work with us on this innovative launch of a series across the IMAX network.”

“We’re happy to see this unique deal come together, working with our partners. In an ever-changing world of distribution and consumption, it’s very exciting to be part of a groundbreaking initiative that takes us to the forefront of this evolution.”

It feels like the last time we had a new episode of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” was in a whole other world. Things were different then, better, the future brighter. But at least we can look forward to knowing that a new season of “It’s Always Sunny” is on the way.

Season 12 will premiere on January 4 and things will undoubtedly get crazy so that will at least distract from the real world. We have gotten a few hints as to what to expect in the upcoming season. The gang will be heading to a waterpark (drunk I’m assuming!) There will be also an episode reportedly devoted to them tending bar for a full day (that seems impossible for the gang). and another episode that involves some kind of public relations disaster around Frank’s soft drink, Wolf Cola.

So while the world crumbles around us, especially after the first of the year, you can start watching season 12 of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” beginning January 4.

Donald Glover, star of FX’s “Atlanta,” has announced a new album under his other moniker Childish Gambino! He also released his first new music in two years which you can listen to and watch above.

The new song is titled “Me and Your Mama” and the track will be the lead for the upcoming new album which is titled Awaken, My Love!, due out December 2.

Glover is pretty much winning this year. He just wrapped the first season of his critically acclaimed FX show Atlanta. He joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe when he was cast in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming. It was also announced this year that he was cast as the Lando Calrissian in the upcoming Star Wars Han Solo stand-alone film.

Luc Besson’s newest science fiction thriller is almost here and the first teaser trailer is here! Valerian isn’t quite The Fifth Element but it looks quite good based on this first peek which you can see above.

Valerian stars Dane DeHaan as the titular hero Valerian alongside Cara DeLevingne as Laureline. The duo are special operatives for the government of the human territories charged with maintaining order throughout the universe. Valerian has more in mind than a professional relationship with his partner – blatantly chasing after her with propositions of romance. But his extensive history with women, and her traditional values, drive Laureline to continuously rebuff him. Under directive from their Commander, Valerian and Laureline embark on a mission to the breathtaking intergalactic city of Alpha, an ever-expanding metropolis comprised of thousands of different species from all four corners of the universe. Alpha’s seventeen million inhabitants have converged over time – uniting their talents, technology and resources for the betterment of all. Unfortunately, not everyone on Alpha shares in these same objectives; in fact, unseen forces are at work, placing our race in great danger.

Valerian is based on a comic book series which involves time travel. Currently we can’t tell if they are incorporating any of the time travel elements from the comic into the movie. The teaser trailer doesn’t mention it and the plot details are scarce enough that we can’t tell. However, the tag line for the movie does imply that our heroes could do more than we know. It says, “A universe without boundaries needs heroes with no limits.” So who knows, we need more information!

It is also interesting to note that the full title of the movie is/was Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, but as of lately the marketing has only been Valerian.

The BBC has officially announced that the fourth season of “Sherlock” is actually happening and it is on it’s way so so so soon! Sherlock season four will premiere on January 1, 2017.

The fourth season premiere episode is titled ” The Six Thatchers” and is actually the first new episode of Sherlock since the hit series’ 2015 Christmas special, “The Abominable Bride.” Even wore, the fourth season is premiering nearly two years after the end of the show’s third season.

The premiere appears to be referencing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1904 short story “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons. Though in the episode they will surely swap the French revolutionary with a more recent political figure. The original story follows Holmes and Watson as they investigate a series of crimes tied to smashed statues. You can read the full text by clicking here.

“Sherlock” is written and created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, and inspired by the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock is produced by Sue Vertue, and the executive producers are Beryl Vertue, Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat for Hartswood Films, Bethan Jones for BBC Cymru Wales and Rebecca Eaton for Masterpiece. It is distributed internationally by BBC Worldwide.

The Sherlock season four premiere is also coming to Masterpiece on PBS in 2017.

EVERYTHING you loved is getting either rebooted, remade, or spun-0ff. Next on the docket is classic series “Knight Rider.”

A recent announcement revealed that Justin Lin and NBCUniversal Brand Development are set to produce a reboot of the iconic 80’s series alongside internet production company Machinima. The announcement was made by Machinima CEO Chad Gutstein.

“Knight Rider is an iconic franchise whose concepts of AI and autonomous vehicles were science fiction in the 1980s and are now science fact,” said Gutstein. “Justin is one of the leading storytellers of his generation and we couldn’t be more excited to work with him on re-invigorating Knight Rider for a new generation of fans.”

The original “Knight Rider” was created and produced by Glen A. Larson and originally premiered in 1982 introducing us to David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight, a police detective with a talking and highly weaponized car named KITT. A sequel series debuted in 1997 called Team Knight Rider with a reboot airing in 2008.

Machinima has done this before don’t worry. The company has created some of the most popular online video content including Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, Mortal Kombat: Legacy and Mortal Kombat: Legacy 2, Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist and Street Fighter: Resurrection, and Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn. Combined, those series have garnered more than 300 million views on Machinima.

There is no premiere date just yet for the new series but we will keep you updated!

November is almost here and the new games are on the horizon for Xbox Live Gold members. As is custom, every month Xbox Live Gold members will receive four new free games – two on Xbox One and two on Xbox 360 – as part of the Games with Gold program. You can play both Xbox 360 titles on your Xbox One with Backward Compatibility.

For this November, On Xbox One, Xbox Live Gold members can download Super Dungeon Bros for free during the entire month of November. Murdered: Soul Suspect will also be free from November 16th to December 15th.

If you are a fan of still playing Xbox 360 games, starting Tuesday, November 1st, Monkey Island: SE will be free for Xbox Live Gold members through November 15th. Then on November 16th, Xbox Live Gold Members can download Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon will be free from the 16 through the end of the month.